"Your beautiful thoughts can be conveyed to this world through the words written on your canvas." -I.A.

Month: March 2017

I think some souls are just heartless by default and I think some souls should pray to God more than others to ask for a heart that seeks compassion and empathy for people.— because I’ve witnessed some people stating that they just don’t seem to care about others even though they wish to care. It’s peculiar but interestingly – we also have genes that promote that behavior as we inherit them from our parents. Ever heard of survival of the fittest? Darwin’s theory? How the genes of survival are passed on? The selfish genes or the alleles of that behavior are selected over alleles of self-less behavior because self-less behavior requires sacrifice.

Crazy thought but it maybe a reality of this world, life is insane.

Photo of Social Experiment created by the renowned Marina Abromovic.

Please Note : The below mentioned Article is not written by me.

“The piece:

‘Rhythm 0, 1974’

The idea, loosely explained, was to test the limits binding the performer and the audience to their furthest degree. She did this by assigning herself a horrifically passive role, where she would stand, for six hours, in an open space, behind a table with carefully chosen objects laid upon it, and a sign explaining what she was doing, and that she would take full responsibility for what was to happen to her.

On the table, the objects she used consisted of things that could be used for pleasure, and objects that could be used for pain, as far as death:

A rose. A feather. Grapes. Honey. A condom. A whip. A scalpel. A gun. And a single bullet.

Apparently, as she explains in the interview, beginning the performance, her audience was quite playful. They were hesitant and reserved and did not think to push the boundaries.

Later, they became more aggressive. She explains it as “6 hours of real horror.” Where people tore at her clothes. Pierced her skin with a rose’s stem. Cut her with a knife and drank her blood. They carried her around, half naked, laid her down on the table and stabbed the knife in between her legs, driving it into and through the table’s surface.

It got to the stage where somebody put the bullet into the gun, and held it at her head with a finger on the trigger. Another member of the audience brushed this person aside, and diffused the situation. Another person tried to have sex with her, until (assumedly “he”) he was deterred by someone else. The tension was thick, real.

After the six hours had lapsed, after she had been caressed, pricked, cut, scalded, almost raped, and almost shot in the head, the gallery’s supervisor came and said that the act was now over. She walked forward toward the audience, naked, with blood dripping from her skin, tears in her eyes. The result?

Everybody ran away. Not one person was willing to confront her active state.

She explained that that night, when she was staring at herself in the mirror of her hotel room, that she saw a long, single strand of white hair.

I don’t believe in God. And I don’t believe that anyone is a “real” or “authentic” prophet – that is to say, I don’t believe that people are hand picked and sent down from “heaven” to lead us.

However, there is something hauntingly beautiful about this woman, eerie. Her eyes are possessed with only presence. I had tears in my eyes – not when I read the story or listened to a video of her explaining what happened during this process – but rather, and simply, when I watched her do a promotional video for a piece that she did for MoMa.

There is just something about her eyes that speak so clearly without words.”

I have always appreciated classical music, especially when composed using the instrument cello and violin. There is something about their melody that transports you to a whole new dimension. These tunes can never bore you.

Recently, I came across a cello duo called 2CELLOS and I just fell in love with the way they create their music. They re-create popular (usually pop) music using the classic cello in an incredible way. One of my favourite music video is “They don’t care about us- Michael Jackson”. Michael Jackson’s music video “They don’t care about us” portrays poverty and socio-economic issues faced by the Brazilians during that period. It was a very controversial music video during that time (which I do not wish to go in deep in this post). However, 2CELLOS brilliantly illustrates the current situation faced around the globe, WAR.

REMEMBER:-You are nobody to tell who is right and who is wrong. You are nobody to say this is haram and this is halal. You may correct the person but correct in such a way that doesn’t offend them. Correct in such a way that doesn’t make them feel you’re superior to them. Correct in such a way that makes them want to know more about Right or wrong.

You’re not god. Never judge.

You don’t know if the sinners heart is purer than yours. You don’t know if they’re more close or more dear to god than you are.

You don’t know what kind of a character they possess.

It’s said in a Hadith :-

A Prostitute who gave water to a thirsty dog entered paradise rather than the woman who prayed 5 times a day and gossiped about the prostitute related to her line of work. She went to hell.

You maybe the wealthiest man in the world. You maybe the most powerful man in the world.

You maybe the most educated man in this world

You maybe be everything but it was given to you through the blessings of Allah.

You maybe the most beautiful woman or the most handsome man in this world.

In one minute , everything that you have – your wealth, your power, your education or your beauty can be ripped away from you.

You may develop dementia and lose your knowledge

You may go through a business loss and lose your wealth or power

You may have an accident and lose your beauty.

Remove that pride. Allah hates pride.

This world belongs to Allah. I belong to Allah. I am NOTHING without him.

You’re nothing without him.

SubhanAllah. May Allah bless us with hidayat

He’s the most merciful and the most high and supreme.

The power only belongs to him. May he bless us all with modesty and love for others. Ameen.

This is Islam. It’s not the terrorist nonsense that the media propagates. It’s modesty, love and a helping hand towards other people. It asks you to be mindful of your blessings and your pride. It asks you to help your brethren. This is real Islam. This is real Islam. This is real Islam.

Dua during the time of thunder (taken from the web) praising the lord. SubhanAllah

Empathy has declined a lot. Compare the times of the 1960’s and 2000’s – there has been a huge decline among humans and empathy keeps declining as the years go by and I’m sure that once empathy declines completely, the day of resurrection will come….

“May Allah protect us always from cruel people”

Picture is taken from the web. This is the Islamic dua to protect yourself from cruel, damaging people. May Allah bless us all. Ameen

There is a reason behind editing this photo as black and white along with that ring that I’ve worn on that very particular finger of mine that symbolises marriage and love between two individuals. So it’s edited black and white to signify the illusion and confusion I feel about the passing love that exists between two individuals. I am often confused by it and I don’t think I really believe in it a lot. I have seen people breaking up and coming from a broken family myself, I think everything is just an illusion and the thought of being controlled by my emotions is scary as when I love someone, I love them deeply and I’m very devoted as a woman. Now to answer why I wear my ring on the ‘wedding finger, Well, that’s because I’m married to myself as I owe myself a lot of healing, a lot of love and a lot of self-growth. Marriage is beautiful but I come from a broken family and I’ve learnt to trust nobody, no man, no father, nobody but myself, my mother and my sister.

The love of the divine is eternal. If you perform the deeds according to what your religion preaches you, no matter which religion you’re born into, you will find peace. You will find solace and you will find redemption. Remember to love and perform deeds that will please your Lord and watch how your life unfolds into a beautiful rose that you’ve never imagined.

I love this country. I really do love this country because it gave me a life to live and thrive as an individual but every time I have an opinion about anything, I’m shut out despite being raised here.

I moved to this country when I was as little as a 4 month old baby.

Well, I should’ve known better because the locals are right about what they say to me. They remind me that I’m nothing but a resident that can be kicked out of this country anytime.

Who am I here? I’m just a passing immigrant. Here, I am ridiculed because I am an Indian. Interestingly, In India I am ridiculed because I am a Muslim. Here I’m reminded every time that I’m an Indian first before I’m a Muslim.

In India I’m reminded every time that I’m a Muslim first before I’m an Indian.

I can’t live anywhere peacefully…I don’t belong anywhere. I don’t have a home in India but neither do I have any home here. I am just a person that’s blessed by Allah that has enough to survive. Words and the comments of people hurt me enough regarding my nationality and my religion. I still love my culture though and I still do love my religion and I still believe im yet to meet good hearted people that wouldn’t mock at me or tell me off for my nationality or religion just because I raised a question related to the rights of refugees, related to rights of people.

Motherhood exists everywhere. It exists even in nature. A true mother’s love can never be compared to anyone’s love besides the love of a devoted wife or a husband.

But devoted women and men are rare these days so stick with protecting and loving your mother always.

Even then, it takes exceptional strength to be a loving mother because every woman has the capability to give birth to babies but not everyone can be loving, devoted mothers. The same can be applied to husbands or wives too but that’s far more complicated than being a mother or a father among us humans because that’s inviting and loving a stranger that isn’t connected to you by blood.

My post is complicated but some may understand how I am trying to connect the dots together.

Photo attained from the web. Love of a mothercat for her kittens. (Motherhood in nature)

This place is always busy, I always see people bustling about with cheesecakes, coffee and gossip around. Some are with families and they are trying to talk with their partners while their kids savour the tastes of hot chocolate. It’s a nice place to sit and observe people with a smile. Sometimes, I wonder what state of transition they’re in their lives, I wonder what’s happening with their lives and what secrets may lie behind those smiles. I wonder if the couples I see are newly married, I wonder if the friends I see are busy with preparations of a birthday party or I wonder what are people that are sitting alone are just thinking like me.Do you think of the world when you’re all alone sipping a cup of coffee? Do you observe and analyse people in your mind’s eye? I know I do and maybe it’s because I think I care. People may find me strange but some may relate to me and understand where I am coming from. God bless everyone that are battling with problems.